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There are 64 DNA codons (possible sequences of the 3-letter nucleotide bases A - adenine, T - thymine, which is replaced by U - uracil in RNA, C - cytosine and G - guanine) but only 20 possible amino acids because of the possibility of mutations that would replace one nucleotide base with another.

For example, both AAA and AAG code for the production of lysine. This means that if a codon sequence was originally AAA and a mutation or an error in copying the DNA strand placed guanine in place of the final adenine, lysine would still be coded for. Though there are many possible errors that would cause an incorrect amino acid to be produced - for example, if cytosine was in place of the final adenine, asparagine would be coded for - having more than one codon per amino acid reduces the chances of a wrong amino acid being produced.

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16y ago

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